First Seeker Sarmak’s archaeological survey of the ancient city of Eternity continues, as the Starfinders explore a server archive created by the First Ones of Aballon, uncovering tantalizing information and long-buried secrets. When a mysterious and violent group known as Those Who Call makes an unexpected appearance, it’s up to the Starfinders to save the day!
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Irres is a rather small elf, clad in unmarked tactical gear under a black synthleather longcoat with something illegible scrawled on the back in sharp, neon blue letters. She has a plasma rifle slung over her shoulder and a scattergun strapped to her waste. She takes a seat and waits for the rest of the party.
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A Contemplative floats in backwards holding a camera and flashes her tech hireling badge.
"Never mind me just act normally"
Next, a large Shobhad dressed for a wrestling match with grim trophies hanging from their armored belt enters flexing all four arms overhand while using a voice amplifier yelling.
"I think I can do better let me try again.
GRIM*! goes back out of the room and repeats his entrance.
"That's a little better, I'll have to practice more."
Then GRIM*! takes a seat and in a much softer almost timid voice says.
"Nice to meet everyone, I like making new friends on new missions. Did everyone meet Xylavol? She has such a long name."
GRIM*! stops and reads her full name from her name tag.
"Xylavol Intellectual Cinema Verite Visionary, see I told you it was long, Xylavol's my camera person and tech help. I hope you don't mind if she tags along, I like to film missions for my video channel. I hope it's not a problem on the mission, according to Xylavol's union contract I have to give her a 10 minute rest every two hours, besides it's just a nice thing to do."
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"Nice to meet you Irres."
GRIM*! looks around at his belt.
"I must have forgotten to bring it to the meeting I normally carry a large leg bone to hit things with, but honestly, it's mostly for show. Most of the time when a fight starts really strange things happen to me and my right fist turns into a boney club like thing I can hit really hard with, my fans really like it.
GRIM*! holds up his top right fist although nothing happens to.
I don't like to use guns, I hit something with a gun once and it broke the gun. I guess I got a religious thing, I never miss watching a new Zo! video, I kind of have to since my goal is to out do Zo! someday and get more clicks on my videos than he does. That's why I hired Xylavol she's almost all brains and is smart too, I can't edit videos like she can, she's really good at it, she knows computers too, which is good because every time I try to use a computer it breaks."
"What do you like to do Irres?
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Twilight trots in. She looks like a miniature unicorn pony with large eyes, midnight blue fur and a black tail and mane. Some sort of arcane mark is on both sides of her rump. On closer look a few interference fringes betray the fact that this is actually a hologram of an inhabitant from Equis. Her height while on four legs would only come up to a halfling's waist.
Another trip to Aballon. I've been so looking forward to this.
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A small adorable feathered dinosaur peeks her head in the tent, eyes absorbed by the equally adorable unicorn. "Hi folks, I'm Henga." Her eyes go *very* wide as she looks up (and up and up) at the shobad. "WOW, you are very very tall! Color me impressed."
She grins, showing small sharp teeth at everyone. "So, what are we all doing here?"
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Irres looks extremely confused on seeing two unexpected creatures show up, and then start talking to her. She pulls a plastic baggie of pills out of her pocket, counts them, and with a shrug stuffs them back in her pocket.
"Aballon's a solid place to work, enough conflict you can always find something that needs doing."
On hearing GRIM*!'s story about breaking a gun by smacking something with it, Irres groans.
"Grandmother's cloak, was it some Eoxian trinket? They're pretty to look at, and their snipers are great, but get a little mud in 'em and you'll never get it shooting right again. You want something solid, get something from the Veskarium. Getting them through customs is a pain, and they are far from subtle, but a slug from a reaction cannon or a bolt of plasma don't give a f*%+ about armor, and you can dump mud right down the barrel and it'll still work."
She excitedly rambles.
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When the miniature unicorn pony hologram enters the room GRIM*! whispers to Xylavol.
"Are they real? A hologram you say, cool that's neat I've never met a hologram before I should ask their name."
GRIM*! turns to the miniature unicorn pony hologram.
"What's your name? I am GRIM*!"
When Henga enters. GRIM*! replies a little confused
"Nice to meet you Henga, I might look like very very tall! but I am GRIM*!"
GRIM*! turns to Xylavol whispering again.
"No one has ever asked me to color them before, that sounds kind of strange, am I supposed to do something? Oh, ok it's just a saying. You have all the answers that's why I hired you."
GRIM*! looks impressed listening intently to Irres 's story about reaction cannons and bolts of plasma. GRIM*! whispers to Xylavol.
"I don't think she likes armor."
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Twilight Glimmer. Named after Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Arch Magus Starlight Glimmer. They were both instrumental in activating and reprogramming my core with the help of Princess Luna who found it in a pawnbroker's shop on this station. The pawnbroker said it originally came from Aballon so we think I may be originally First One's tech.
She is also sporting a shoulder mounted laser pistol.
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"Nice to meet you Twilight Glimmer. I heard about, I mean met Princess Luna when we were assigned to give her a tour of Absalom Station, I even got a video of her."
GRIM*! takes out his com unit and plays a video of Princess Luna entering a fancy restaurant, for everyone to see, although the camera angle is crooked and cuts off half of Princess Luna's head.
GRIM*! turns to Xylavol whispering again.
"She's got a gun too, I bet she also doesn't like armor."
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"Why would you hit someone with a gun that way? That's not usually how you do it. Or is that a strange custom from your people?"
"A smart person once told me, do what you do best, so I hit them over the head with the gun."
GRIM*! pauses a bit then catches himself."Not the smart person, I meant I hit someone I was fighting with the gun, and it worked it broke the gun and the person and ended the fight, that's one, two, three birds with one stone, although I didn't use a stone it's just a saying."
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*nods* Yep. That's the Princess alright. How did her visit here go?
"I get hit in the head a lot wrestling, let me check my notes."
GRIM*! takes out their comm unit and reads it for a minute."The visit went well she signed a bunch of important paperwork at the end, and I think she might have knighted me too, she kept calling me Sir GRIM*! That's all I read I mean remember."
The one thing that Starfinders immediately note about Aballon is how hot is it. Being close to the sun does that, but the environment doesn't help either: deep craters, vast desert and sprawling megaplexes. The short days are hot, the short night cause the planet to cool down quickly.
Out here, on the edge of Eternity, first seeker Sarmak has set up his base camp, and it is time to greet some new arrivals.
Soaring spires emerging from the rocky ground break the monotony of Aballon’s dusty plains with their silvery gleam. The straight roads crisscrossing the vast city of Eternity resemble a meticulously planned circuit board whose purpose has been lost to the ages, with the occasional fallen roof and buried sections disturbing the ancient city’s architectural precision.
Just inside Eternity, the Starfinder base camp is a hub of activity. Scientists, scholars, engineers, research assistants, cartographers, and a variety of support personnel bustle about while performing their duties. Sturdy temporary structures are slowly replacing tents.
Less experienced new arrivals are easily spotted accidentally bounding past as they adjust to the low gravity of Aballon. The oxygen generators hum alongside the temperature regulators, allowing those within the confines of camp to deactivate their environmental protections. Entry points visible at regular intervals along the boundaries facilitate the transitions to and from the harsher conditions of thin atmosphere and extreme temperatures outside camp.
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GRIM*! being a Professional video personality uses his knowledge of the infosphere to learn about Aballon culture. Most importantly checks to see how popular Zo! is on Aballon, and if the people of Aballon like to wrestle.
GRIM*! seeing people replacing tents with sturdier temporary structures tries to help out with any heaving lifting while waiting for the meeting to start.
GRIM*! helps as much as he can, but doesn't stop him from talking too much while working.
"So what is Aballon like, does Zo! come here often? Is it always so hot here? I like to wrestle, Would anyone like to wrestle? I want to wrestle Those Who Call I think that should be fun?"
GRIM is all about bringing a muscled arm to a gunfight, and together with Twilight he knows quite some things about Those Who Call and Aballon. None of which is very conducive to wrestling, one might add.
No one knows who the First Ones were, what they looked like, where they came from, or where they went. They left behind visible traces of their presence on Aballon, from the artificial laborers that evolved into anacites to the many ancient cities built on the planet’s surface.
Anacites consider the cities of the First Ones sacred sites and are forbidden from entering them. Occasionally, the governing Insight Array allows outsiders to explore and document these ancient cities in their stead. Thanks to First Seeker Sarmak’s efforts, the Starfinder Society was given permission to perform an archaeological survey of the city of Eternity. The Starfinders set up a base camp just inside Eternity, from which they launch their explorations and conduct research. Recently, the Starfinders explored a distribution node, a technocréche, and an underground city block they only gained access to using an ancient relic called the Eternity Drive. They also had a run-in with a violent and fanatical anacite who claimed to belong to a group called Those Who Call. Further investigation into Those Who Call yielded only a name: Supreme-Proclaimant.
In the ancient past, the First Ones harvested resources from Aballon, then left of their own accord. In the process they created self-improving robots for use as laborers. Long after the First Ones left, these robots became intelligent anacites. Recently, the Starfinder Society discovered evidence of massive robots created within Eternity that were designed not for labor, but for war and widespread destruction.
The First Ones created different machines for different purposes. It was recently discovered that they created protocites, another species of artificial lifeform who dwell within the sun. While the protocites share some similarities with the anacites, they’re a completely different branch of artificial life, whose purpose is to conduct radical research. Perhaps the strangest creatures to claim the First Ones as their creators are the planashars: aggressive two-dimensional constructs from a hidden dimension known as the Infinite Loop, who aim to assimilate the entire three-dimensional galaxy by any means necessary.
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After the group has had some time to do research and settle down, it's time to meet Sarmak.
A harried but happy looking izalguun—First Seeker Sarmak— looks up from a pile of data pads and grins. “Ah, there you are, right on time. Thank you for joining us here in Eternity!”
“It’s long been my hope that the Starfinders would investigate this, and other cities of the First Ones. After we discovered a relic known as the Eternity Drive at another Aballonian site, the Insight Array approved this large scale survey—the first of its size and scope in Eternity! The Eternity Drive is a complex hybrid device designed by the First Ones which serves as both an encrypted data drive and a physical key. We’ve already used it to unlock a few hidden areas in the city. It’s currently with one of our talented engineers who is attempting to make a duplicate. It won’t be ready before you leave on your mission, but if you want a peek, stop by Hope-01’s workstation before you go. We’ve also been working on developing translation tools for the First Ones’ language. Check in with Kinpopo near the camp’s north exit and see if they have anything for you to use.
“Now, onto your mission!” Sarmak shifts his bulky body toward a holographic panel in the middle of the room, pulling up a map of the city. “Our scouts have identified what they suspect is a data archive to the north. As combat trained field agents, your mission is to perform an initial exploration of the site and ensure its safe for your more scholarly colleagues to enter. In the coming weeks, we’ll send in teams of archaeologists, engineers, xenolinguists, and other researchers to perform a more thorough excavation. Treat the site with respect and above all: be careful. We’ve already discovered several traps, plenty of malfunctioning equipment, and some dangerous robots during our time here. Some of our agents were even attacked by a violent anacite that claimed to belong to a group called Those Who Call. We haven’t been able to corroborate their story, of course, but it doesn’t hurt to remain alert! Any questions?”
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Erm. Sir. I was one of those agents remember? And, to reiterate, Those That Call, are determined to contact the First Ones to summon them back, as opposed to Those Who Wait.
She looks around at the others. I'm just the archaeologist sir, but I'm sure the others, especially him, are the combat orientated ones
No prizes for guessing who Twilight is referring to.
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"Did you say Hope-01 is here? Isn't that the name on all the missing person posters someone keeps posting in all the Lore Spire break rooms?"
GRIM*! looks at his comm unit with a very concerned expression.
"If First Ones are trying to make the entire galaxy 2D."
GRIM*! holds up an image on his comm unit.
Image .
"I think we might be too late."
Yes, Hope-01 is here. He's a very talented engineer, and a recent society graduate. This is his first field assignment. He joined the expedition as an analyst.
We don't know much about those who call. A team of Starfinders Sarmak says, nodding at Twilight, met an anacite within Eternity—a strange encounter in and of itself, as anacites are forbidden from entering cities of the First Ones. This anacite held great anger at the ruling Insight Array and other Aballonian governmental institutions and deeply revered the First Ones, claiming their ‘return was imminent’ and that they would ‘call them here, rather than wait for their return.’ The anacite attacked our agents suddenly and claimed to belong to a wider group called Those Who Call. It sounds like they might be a militant faction of anacites who strive to usher in the return of the First Ones and draw them back to Aballon. But we’ve found no further evidence of them in the city, nor has the Insight Array found traces of them beyond Eternity’s borders. One of our agents discovered a possible reference to Those Who Call on the local infosphere, which gave us a name: Supreme-Proclaimant, but they don’t seem to exist and the reference was scrubbed shortly after. If Those Who Call exist beyond this anacite’s imagination, they’re well hidden.”
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"Definitely interested in anything we can use to talk to these Those Who Do Things cults. I find I much prefer trying diplomacy before thrashing them." You're pretty sure Henga couldn't thrash someone if she tried.
"But let's check with Hope-01 and see if he has anything new for us first. A lexicon would be useful, so I definitely want to stop by Kinpopo, too."
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*nods* I for one would be interested to see if Kinpopo has refined the translator after I tested the prototype for him. I also carry a Comprehend Language spell as well.
Plus I agree on the diplomacy but the 'Those That Call' types seem to be the 'shoot first' type. The one we fought interfaced with nearby machinery as well to cause them to attack us
She looks over to Henga. So I presume you're a spell slinger too?
The assailants were Anacites, who favor lasers at range and integrated blades when in melee.
Hope-01 looks to be engrossed in a glowing flower-shaped device that Twilight immediately recognises as the Eternity Drive. After a moment, the anroid looks up and greets the hologram cheerfully. Hey there, Twilight he speaks “Come to sneak a peek at the Eternity Drive, have you? You may look, but please keep your distance and don’t touch.”
These are you new teammates? I'm Hope-01, and I'm a recent graduate. I've joined this mission as an analyst. Field work isn't for me, way too dangerous, but I enjoy working on ancient technology. It's going to be quite a challenge to replicate the Eternity Drive! What are you working on?
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Henga smiles at the hologram. "Actually, I'm mostly a diplomat with a side of priest. I've never been a spellcaster."
When they reach Hope-01, Henga is...interested, but definitely not enthralled. "Hi, Hope, nice to meet you. We've been asked to investigate a potential data archive. Anything you can help us with?"
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Priests cast spells too Twilight says to Henga as they go to see Hope-01. Princess Celestia certainly does
Once there, Twilight introduces the others to Hope-01. As long as you don't fiddle with it, I might let you examine my core to see if there are any similarities between it and other First One's tech.
As for me, I'm trying to figure out what Those Who Call are up to, although, I'm really eager to dive into that data archive.
She trots up onto a bench to have a closer look at the Drive.
Yes, the same Hope-01, except that I'm no longer missing. Hope-01 says with a smile.
I've got some help for you, here's some prototypes I have
See this? This is like a regular serum of healing, but hidden in a pen. You click it once to activate it he says, clicking the pen causing a syringe to come out and once more to deactivate. Don't forget to dispose used needles in the special bin!
Oh, and this. It's a standard issue explorer handcoil, you point the glowing end toward whatever you want disposed and pull the trigger. Don't forget to deactivate the safety first!
Well, it wouldn't be a serum of healing anymore, would it? Hope answer Irres, and says to Twilight That's the great part, it is absolutely indistinguishable from a standard handcoil!
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Twilight sighs. And here I was thinking that it shoots and wubs at the same time. No wait .. that'll be a sonic weapon, probably the Thunderstruck. She grins when it's obvious she's trying to do humour. Or is that Thunderstrike.
Seriously though, is it any better than my shoulder mounted azimuth laser? And can it be fitted to the mount?
Twilight sighs. And here I was thinking that it shoots and wubs at the same time. No wait .. that'll be a sonic weapon, probably the Thunderstruck.
Seriously though, is it any better than my shoulder mounted azimuth laser? And can it be fitted to the mount?
Does you shoulder mounted azimuth laser have pink accents, hmm?
Not far away from Hope-01, a pair of security guards monitor a break in the camp’s perimeter fence, where Starfinders enter and exit. All comings and goings are documented, and identity checks completed. Nearby, a squox-like individual is working on some large mechanical equipment, tail clinging to a pole and body deep in the machine.